d=3 Anisotropic and d=2 tJ Models: Phase Diagrams, Thermodynamic Properties, and Chemical Potential Shift

The anisotropic d=3 tJ model is studied by renormalization-group theory, yielding the evolution of the system as interplane coupling is varied from the isotropic three-dimensional to quasi-two-dimensional regimes. Finite-temperature phase diagrams, chemical potential shifts, and in-plane and interplane kinetic energies and antiferromagnetic correlations are calculated for the entire range of electron densities. We find that the novel tau phase, seen in earlier studies of the isotropic d=3 tJ model, and potentially corresponding to the superconducting phase in high-T_c materials, persists even for strong anisotropy. While the tau phase appears at low temperatures at 30-35% hole doping away from <n_i>=1, at smaller hole dopings we see a complex lamellar structure of antiferromagnetic and disordered regions, with a suppressed chemical potential shift, a possible marker of incommensurate ordering in the form of microscopic stripes. An investigation of the renormalization-group flows for the isotropic two-dimensional tJ model also shows a pre-signature of the tau phase, which appears with finite transition temperatures upon addition of the smallest interplane coupling.